12 songs San Diego's mayor played on the radio Sunday night

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner spun music and stories into gold on local radio station KPRI-FM 102.1 Sunday night.

It was an entertaining hour, though Filner didn't drop any Talking Heads like Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs did the week before him, or play any Nirvana like TV personality Loren Nancarrow did to kick off the station's guest disc jockey series in February.

Filner squeezed a dozen songs in between as many anecdotes, including one story about how Carole King sang one of her standards in his presence for Cuban President Fidel Castro. He also revealed that he and his fiancee Bronwyn Ingram have a song, and joked that Ringo Starr is a "little better" at drumming.

All but one of the songs Filner played were recorded during a 13-year window from 1959 to 1972. The exception? The tune from 2006 that he and Ingram adopted.

"Music has always defined us," Filner said. "We can remember exactly where we were when we hear a certain song or certain songs remind us of some good times, hopefully, and maybe some sad songs. But music is always there. I've been involved in political events where music is important and we'll play some of that today. I guess some of your romantic life is always connected with your favorite songs, and certainly what's happening in America at a certain time is connected with the music."

Without further ado, here are Filner's songs and his comments about each. At the end of this post, you'll find a way to hear the entire set list on Spotify and our question of the day: What song(s) would you play if you took over local radio? Answer below or on social media and you might make Tuesday's front page.

Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water

"I happened to go to high school in New York City, and a class ahead of me was Simon and Garfunkel, so that's my claim to fame, I guess," the 20-year congressman quipped. "Before they were Simon and Garfunkel in the late '50s, they were Tom and Jerry. And they used to play at our assemblies. And you'll never believe this, but Simon and Garfunkel had crew cuts, flat tops. They wore white bucks and they did some of these dances we called the Lindy or the Jitterbug and they had, I think, a No. 5 song in all of the metropolitan New York area, and that made them really cool among all the high school kids, so we knew them as Tom and Jerry. Later when they had all this hair and they were singing songs that were a little bit, I don't know, more at a higher level maybe, we couldn't believe it was Simon and Garfunkel. But it reminds me certainly of my high school years and as we move from the '50s into the '60s, and that's what Simon and Garfunkel, I think, represent for America."

Carole King's You've Got A Friend

Filner said he met and bonded with singer/songwriter Carole King on a trip to Cuba with congressmen who were going to meet President Fidel Castro. He said he "had her sing" "You've Got A Friend" for Castro as a symbol.